Ronaldo powers Real to victory, Barcelona cruise

AS YOU WHERE:All of the top four in La Liga won on Sunday, with Atletico Madrid crushing Granada 5-0 and Real Sociedad downing Real Vallecano de Madrid

Reuters, MADRID

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, third left, scores against Athletic Bilbao in their La Liga match at the San Mames in Bilbao, Spain, on Sunday.

Photo: EPA

Cristiano Ronaldo proved too powerful for Athletic Bilbao as he scored with a fizzing free-kick and a towering header in Real Madrid’s bruising 3-0 victory at the San Mames in La Liga on Sunday.

The Portugal international took his league tally for the season to 31 goals, netting in his eighth successive game in all competitions, and he also set up Gonzalo Higuain for Real’s third.

Coach Jose Mourinho has said Real’s title defense is effectively over, but he fielded a near full-strength side at the San Mames as they moved on to 68 points, 13 short of leaders Barcelona with seven games left to play.

A weakened Barcelona side had earlier cruised to a 3-0 win at struggling Real Zaragoza thanks to two Cristian Tello goals.

Ronaldo stroked a free-kick over the wall and into the top corner after only two minutes in Bilbao, but it sparked a strong response from the hosts, who forced Diego Lopez into two fingertip saves before halftime.

Angel di Maria had hit the bar in the first half and the temperature was rising as tackles flew in thick and fast.

Ronaldo was at the center of much of the attention and he reacted by outjumping his marker to nod Xabi Alonso’s free-kick past Gorka Iraizoz in the 68th minute.

Higuain was played into the space in the area by Ronaldo soon after and the Argentine settled the match with low shot into the far corner.

Like Real, Barca’s priority is to conserve their energies for the UEFA Champions League semi-finals in two weeks time and they rested a host of players in Zaragoza, including Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Gerard Pique.

Making the most of their opportunities were Barca youth academy products Tello and Thiago Alcantara.

Thiago ran the length of the pitch on a counterattack and fired in off the far post after a one-two with Alexis Sanchez in the 20th minute. The Spain international then laid on the second for Tello.

His through ball put the pacy left winger clear to lift his shot over Roberto just before halftime and Tello sped past his marker to squeeze the third inside the far post in the 53rd minute.

Alexis had already hit the crossbar, but Zaragoza, who have yet to win this calendar year, rarely threatened.

“We miss Messi, obviously, but we have some great players with a lot of football in their boots,” Thiago told Spanish broadcaster Canal Plus. “We would like to win the league as soon as possible, but there are still many games left to play. The title isn’t won yet.”

The Colombia international striker, constantly linked with a move to Europe’s top clubs, took his league tally for the season to 24 as Atletico moved on to 65 points in third place, three short of next month’s Copa del Rey final opponents.

Atletico were ahead after only four minutes at the Vicente Calderon when Diego Costa headed in Koke’s cross and the Brazilian striker set up Falcao for the second after a swift counterattack.

Midfielder Koke, a Spain youth international, curled in teasing free-kicks for Falcao and Raul Garcia to volley the third and fourth goals after the break, then the over-lapping Filipe Luis made it 5-0 in the 70th minute.

“It’s impossible to say a Champions League place is now secured,” Atletico coach Diego Simeone told a press conference. “We can’t think like that. We must look to try and finish second, which would be a big step forward for this club.”